In an administrative reshuffle of 20 IAS officers, the state government on Thursday transferred Saharanpur Divisional Commissioner Mahendra Prasad Agrawal and made him finance department secretary. He was replaced by Deepak Agrawal, who was serving as secretary in revenue department.

Repeated instances of caste clashes in the district since May 5 had led to rumours about the commissioner’s removal alongwith other district-level officers.

Meanwhile, Ranjan Kumar, divisional commissioner of Mirzapur, has been made secretary (revenue). Kumar has been replaced by V H Jhimomi. Manoj Mishra, who was secretary (culture), has been made divisional commissioner of Faizabad.

In an another significant transfer, Anuj Kumar Jha, additional commissioner of MGNREGA, has been made director of the state information and public relations department.

Other transfers included that of Prashand Trivedi, who had been on the wait list and has now been made principal secretary in the medical, health and family welfare department. Additional Chief Secretary of the food and civil supplies department Kumar Arvind Singh Dev has been made director general of the state Academy of Administration and Management and Deen Dayal Upadhyay State Rural Development Institute.

Nivedita Shukla Verma will be the new principal secretary (food and civil supplies). Himanshu Kumar, principal secretary (science and technology), has been made principal secretary (food and drug administration).

On May 24, the government had suspended Saharanpur SSP Subhash Chandra Dubey and District Magistrate N P Singh, said a PTI report.